Blind Spot
by Redlance-ck
Summary: Sam and Alex chat. Sam and Alex have dinner. Sam is charming. Alex is an idiot. [One-shot]


Alex lets out a heavy but happy sigh as she drops down into one of the chairs in the conference room on the upper floor of the D.E.O. It's quiet, the noise from the main hub hovering somewhere between floors, and Alex uses the rare moment of solitude to reflect.

They had saved the world.

It's a lot to take in, to accept, the idea that the entire planet was safe thanks, in part, to her. That she'd had a hand in it, been a cog in the machine, and there has always been a feeling of accomplishment that goes along with taking down a bad guy, but this is something else.

Reign had been defeated.

Alex can admit that the odds hadn't always been in their favour. She can admit that there had been moments where she'd caught herself thinking that there was no way they could win this. Although, those thoughts had mostly been contained to the immediate aftermath of Kara's first real showdown with the World Killer. After they'd brought her sister in on a stretcher, unconscious and covered in the strikingly unfamiliar sight of her own blood.

Not something Alex is accustomed to seeing.

Neither is the face of a friend behind the mask of an enemy.

Finding out that Sam was Reign had hit Alex with the kind of sucker punch that leaves a person feeling winded and weak. Dizzy and sick. Because Alex had been right there with Sam, by her side, trying to help her figure out what was wrong, trying to help fix it. She'd been unsuccessful where Lena had made strides and though she doesn't resent Lena for that, Alex still felt like a failure. Like she should have somehow known.

It's not enough to say that being unable to help Sam had disappointed Alex. It's not enough to say that once Reign had broken free from Lena's prison, she'd wanted to protect Ruby. To give the girl her mother back.

It's not enough to say that Alex cares a great deal for both of them.

She sits and silently stews on that thought for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet but half-heartedly wishing she could think about something else. Dwelling on things she can't change has never done her any good.

"Knock, knock."

The words are accompanied by twin raps and Alex lifts her head from where she'd been propping it up on her closed fist to find Sam loitering in the doorway, her hand resting against the frame.

Alex tries to say hello but her voice cracks when Sam smiles at her and she's forced to clear her throat, finally managing a, "Hey." It comes out sounding a little more surprised than she would have preferred.

"Hey." Sam's smile is soft and distracting, and Alex has to take a second to mentally shake herself.

"I thought you were leaving." Alex blinks at herself because, wow, that doesn't sound good. "I didn't mean for that to sound like I don't- I'm glad you're still- why? Are you still here?" Her words become weak and strangled with every syllable, and they leave her no better off than when she started.

Thankfully, Sam is sweet and kind and she spares Alex with a wryly raised eyebrow.

"I **was **leaving." Sam pushes away from the door frame and takes a step into the room. "But Ruby-" she cuts herself off with a smile that Alex doesn't understand and then starts again. "You've done so much for me and Ruby. More than I could possibly hope to repay you for, even on a C.F.O.'s salary."

Alex's lips twitch at their corners and she shakes her head.

"I didn't do any of those things so that you'd owe me one." A rueful smile covers up the fact that there's more Alex wants to say, but she doesn't know how.

"I know that," Sam says, like Alex has just informed her that the sun isn't black. She glances down at the floor and when she looks back up the shine from the overhead lights catches her eyes. They're shimmering now. "But everything you did for me before… what you did for Ruby while I was…." Sam blows out a breath and Alex feels her chest tighten.

"Please don't cry," she blurts, rolling the chair back and standing in one fluid motion. She reaches out but stops herself just shy of making contact with Sam's arm.

"I'm not going to cry." Sam looks pointedly at Alex, head tilted slightly, determined, even as her voice waivers. "I just want to thank you." There's a beat of quiet and then, "And maybe take you out for dinner or something."

And Alex's face twists into an expression of palid horror at the thought of Sam thinking she has to **thank her** for anything, so she opens her mouth to object the notion, but Sam beats her to the punch.

"And don't bother with all that 'you don't need to thank me' crap, okay?" Sam folds her arms across her chest, her very best 'no-nonsense mom' mask set firmly in place. "For once, don't argue and let me." But then the facade crumbles and cracks, leaving Sam looking something close to vulnerable.

And what can Alex possibly hope to do except say yes?

"Okay," she relents, ducking her head and then tucking the hair that falls into her eyes with the motion back behind her ear. "Fine. If it'll make you happy."

"I appreciate your sacrifice. I'm sure an evening with me will be **awful**," Sam drawls sarcastically, before her tone turns serious again and she adds, "but yes, it will make me happy."

There's a moment, then, where they're left staring at one another, that lasts a little too long and is bordering on making Alex anxious when Sam informs her that, "I'll call you. You'll pick me up."

"I will?" Alex hikes an eyebrow, a pleasantly bemused smile curving her mouth.

"Oh, I'm getting on the back of that bike." With that, and a self-satisfied smirk, Sam leaves the same way she'd come in.

Later, when Alex returns to the main floor and Kara, always suspicious, asks why she's so smiley, Alex shrugs.

"No reason. So, is there someone for me to punch yet?"

* * *

Sam gives her the name of a restaurant that Alex has heard of but never been to and it doesn't occur to her to ask about dress code until she's straddling her bike and speeding through the city. Hopefully, nice pants and a leather jacket over a button-down meet the requirements, if there are any.

She'd texted Sam to tell her she was leaving on her way out of her apartment and so it's no surprise that she's standing at the window watching for her. She pulls up just out front and shuts off the motor - because idling pollutes and she's had Kara yell at her enough times for it - then waves at Sam, whose lips move in speech that Alex can't make out. Suddenly, Ruby's head pops into view and she's wearing a smile so wide, it almost pushes her rosy cheeks right into her eyes. She waves at Alex, a bit over-exuberant, and then dashes out of sight. Sam turns her head to call after her and Alex **does** hear that even though Ruby apparently doesn't, because a second later the front door flies open.

"Alex!" Ruby's smile is somehow wider, Alex notes, just as Ruby throws herself into Alex's side.

"Hey, Ruby," Alex laughs, playfully ruffling Ruby's hair before wrapping her in a one-armed hug and pulling her close. Ruby sinks right into her and they stay like that until Sam finishes her slow approach and appears on the porch.

She's wearing a pair of perfectly pressed slacks and a white blouse that looks like it would feel silky to touch and Alex still has no idea what that means in terms of the eatery's dress code because Sam always looks amazing.

She's also holding up a pair of sneakers that she's hooked onto the first two fingers of her right hand and is aiming an unamused raised eyebrow in her daughter's direction. Sheepishly, Ruby pulls away and Alex glances down at the girl's shoeless feet.

"Sorry, mom." Ruby hangs her head but she's still smiling as she walks back towards the house.

"I like your socks!" Alex calls after her, pointing to Ruby's feet and then curving her thumb and forefinger until their tips touch in the universal sign for 'perfect'. Ruby beams but has the good grace to rein it in when she looks up at her mom and takes the shoes.

"What are we not?" Sam asks and Alex looks on, amused, as Ruby replies.

"Neanderthals who don't wear anything on their feet when they leave the house."

"Right. And where do we **not **live?"

"In a cave."

"Oh good, you do remember." Sam swats Ruby's backside playfully as she passes and tells her to go get ready for the sitter.

"Sitter?" Alex asks, curious as to which one of their friends Sam had entrusted her daughter with. It would have to be a friend because after Reign, Sam had become even more protective of Ruby than she had been before. Less willing to have a stranger in charge of keeping her safe.

"Hey, that's me!" The voice is bubbly and cheerful, and Alex turns her head to find Kara walking up the driveway towards them.

"You got Kara to babysit me?" Ruby actually sounds excited at the prospect but Kara frowns at her, coming to a halt on the porch between them.

"Oh. No, no." Kara shakes her head and Ruby deflates. "I asked your mom if we could hang out tonight. Technically, I think she's babysitting Alex for me." She winks at Ruby, whose grin returns tenfold, and pulls a face at her sister when Alex protests. "Let's go bake cookies!" She grabs Ruby's hand and drags her into the house, throwing a farewell over her shoulder. "You kids have fun!"

"Try not to set fire to my curtains this time!" Sam calls after them and there's an indignant cry of, "That was Lena!" before the house goes suspiciously silent.

"Wanna get out of here before things start exploding?" Alex asks, unclipping the spare helmet from its place hooked beneath the seat and offering it to Sam. She wastes no time accepting it.

"God, yes." Sam slides the helmet on and climbs onto the back of the bike. Her arms wind easily around Alex's middle and Alex hopes the sound of her clearing her throat is muffled by her own helmet. "Do you remember the directions?"

"No." Alex taps the G.P.S. screen nestled between the handlebars of her bike. "But she does."

"She?" The engine roars to life beneath them, saving Alex from answering, and she tells Sam to hold on tight before speeding off.

* * *

The Broadhouse does not have valet parking, which does wonders to alleviate Alex's anxiety over the way she'd dressed, and she curves around to the rear of the building to park. They both climb off and remove their helmets, and Alex shakes her hair to give it back some of its shape. When she's done, she glances over at Sam to find her doing the same, only with less success. Next, she attempts to run her fingers through the long strands but they get stuck halfway down and Alex tries, she really does, but the laugh won't stay inside her. Sam flicks her gaze, now pointed and threatening, to Alex.

"It's easy for you. You barely have any hair," Sam grumbles.

"Hey, if you want to cut yours off I know a place." Alex's laughter simmers to a small smirk and Sam huffs, exasperated.

"Can you please-" she holds out a few strands of hair that can't decide which side of her head they belong to. "Where does this go?"

Chuckling, Alex steps forward and reaches out to put Sam's hair back in place as best she can. Sam's hair is softer than she'd been expecting. Not that she really knows what she was expecting or why she was expecting anything at all.

"Do I look like I've been dragged backwards through a hedge?" Sam is almost pouting. Alex rolls her eyes.

"You look great, like always."

She hears what she's saying roughly three and a quarter words in, but by then it's too late to stop the rest from following. So, she locks both helmets to the bike and smiles too wide in a desperate attempt to make her comment seem friendly and playful and nothing else whatsoever, then turns on her heel with a chipper, "Let's go!" Like they're headed towards a ride at Disneyland. She cringes and briefly closes her eyes, but then Sam is there, opening the door for Alex to walk through and they're inside.

The Broadhouse has way more of a farmhouse type feel than Alex had been expecting. The interior is all low lighting and wooden beams. Sleek red cloths adorn each table and there are booths with high backs lining the outer walls. The hostess greets them and takes their names and when Sam gives hers, Alex watches a light of recognition flick on behind the woman's eyes.

"Oh, Miss Arias! We have your table ready to go," she announces, with perhaps the most amount of teeth in a smile that Alex has ever seen and a waiter approaches to lead them to their booth. Sam slips out of her coat and the young man takes it from her before turning to do the same for Alex. Alex gives him a hard stare and then pointedly folds her jacket and places it on the seat between herself and the wall. The man leaves with a hard swallow and the promise to return for their drink orders.

"You enjoy that way too much."

Alex looks up from where she's making sure her phone is still in the pocket of her jacket and finds Sam watching her with a small but amused smirk.

"What?"

"Intimidating people," Sam clarifies. Alex ducks her head in an attempt to appear chastised, but abandons the motion halfway through.

"What's the point in having a skill if you can't use it?" It's a point Alex has stood by since high school and Sam's mouth curves into a pleased smile at the answer.

The waiter makes a speedy return with warm breadsticks and a good memory, takes their drink orders without writing them down, and then leaves again. Sam takes a breadstick out of the basket and breaks it in half, taking a bite of one end and offering the other to Alex who smiles wryly at the somewhat mother-like gesture.

"So," Sam drolls. "What other skills do you have that you enjoy using?"

Alex accidentally inhales a piece of bread or maybe it's just some of the seasoning on top, but it feels like half a grapefruit has gone down her throat. She sputters, coughs, and as her eyes begin to water she hears Sam laughing.

"Sorry."

Alex doesn't need to be able to see in order to know that the apology is as fake as the fur that lines one of the jackets in Kara's closet.

"No you're not," she croaks after a second.

It's going to be a long night.

* * *

They've been here for hours.

Their meals had come and gone over an hour ago, maybe closer to two. Neither of them knows because they haven't so much as glanced at their phones or looked for a clock. Alex has found that talking to Sam is painfully easy. Not that she hadn't already known that, but it's different when it's just the two of them. Without Kara or Lena or Ruby.

It's nice, Alex thinks. Having someone outside of Kara to feel close to. She hasn't had many female friends in recent years. There had been friction between her and Lucy, she'd ended up dating and subsequently breaking up with Maggie, and Lena is really more Kara's friend than she is Alex's.

Maybe she should feel that way about Sam, too. After all, she was Lena's friend first. She doesn't, though. Whether or not that's because she and Sam have spent more one-on-one time together than she has with Lena, Alex isn't sure. Perhaps the fact that many of those moments had been so intense, back when they were trying to figure out what was wrong with Sam, had made the difference.

Tonight is much more relaxed.

Alex likes it.

"-literally had to jump off the balcony while I was still shooting at them. Kara caught me." Alex finishes the story and takes a sip of the coffee she'd ordered a half hour ago, grimacing when cold liquid fills her mouth. She's half-way to spitting it back out when she remembers she isn't sitting with Kara in her apartment.

"How did you know she'd be there to catch you?!" Sam sounds both amazed and outraged, like she wants to lecture Alex for being so reckless but is too awe-struck to convincingly pull that off.

Alex shrugs.

"She always is."

Sam slumps back against the booth with a dull thud and a, "Wow." she stares down at the table for a few seconds, slack jawed and shaking her head. "That… that's really high up." Sam turns her deep, brown, doe eyes on Alex, who has to swallow at the sparkle she sees in them before replying.

"It is," she laughs.

"I've been up there and it's like… it's a really tall building, Alex."

"I **do **work there, you know." Alex's tone is teasing and Sam rolls her eyes, balling up a napkin and then tossing it at Alex. "Trained to avoid projectiles," she grins, darting her head out of the way.

"And to leap off of tall buildings in a single bound, apparently." Her own cup empty and forgetting the earlier grimace incident, Sam reaches for Alex's coffee only to jump in surprise when Alex jerks forward and slaps her palm over the mouth of the mug. Alex gestures at the waiter, silently requesting two fresh replacements.

"There was no actual, official training for that," Alex quips, turning her attention back to Sam, who looks at her quietly for a moment.

Her hand is still curled around the cup that Alex is holding down against the table and, at such close proximity, Alex can see flecks of green swirling through brown eyes. Eyes that blink and then drift further away as Sam straightens with a small smirk.

"Rebel." Sam folds her arms over her chest and wiggles her eyebrows.

"We did ride here on my motorbike," Alex reminds her and Sam concedes with a nod of her head. "Though, I think I prefer the term badass." At that, Sam barks a laugh and then laughs again at the look of dejected outrage on Alex's face.

"I'm sorry, it's just…." Sam pauses, then reaches across the table to rest a hand on Alex's forearm. "I've seen how you are with Ruby."

"You can like kids and still be a badass," Alex huffs and she's probably imagining the way her skin tingles when Sam's fingertips brush over her wrist as she takes her hand back.

"Well, yeah." She gestures to herself with a smug smile. "Just look at me."

The waiter arrives with their coffees and Alex turns her phone over to check the time, eyebrows hiking to her hairline when she sees that it's almost eleven-thirty.

"Oh wow, it's almost midnight."

"What?" Sam gapes, horrified, and checks her own phone for confirmation. "Oh my god, your sister." She looks like she's two seconds away from having a guilt-slash-shame-filled meltdown and her thumbs fly across the screen of her phone as she, presumably, starts to text or call Kara.

"It's fine." Alex's waves her hand in front of Sam's face to catch her attention and then gently eases the phone out of her grip, placing it back down on the table. "She and Ruby have probably fallen asleep in front of a movie on the couch again." She watches Sam's expression shift and brighten as she smiles at the memory. "But if you're not having a good time and need an excuse to leave…." Alex continues, trailing off with a feigned, disappointed sigh.

"Shut up." The corners of Sam's eyes crinkle when she laughs. "If I wanted an excuse to leave, I'd pull the busy C.F.O. card. Foolproof plan of escape. That way you couldn't even offer to take me home." Sam's smile turns mischievous and Alex frowns at her.

"I don't like how much thought you obviously put into this."

"Hey," Sam lifts her cup of coffee to her mouth. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

They talk about things that they've never had the chance to before. Sam asks Alex what it was like for Alex gaining an alien for a sister at such a volatile age. Sam tells her it was just that; volatile.

Alex asks Sam what it's like juggling a kid and a career. Sam asks why she wants to know.

They talk about babies and motherhood, about expectation versus reality, and how Sam never knows if she's doing the right thing. She tells Alex that all she has to go on is her gut and that was all she'd had for the longest time. It had been her and Ruby against the world.

Alex asks if she's ever tried dating seriously again. Sam makes a face.

"I tried. A few times. Obviously, nothing stuck." Sam shrugs. "I got tired of people making excuses to cancel or break things off. Or, one time, actually, telling me to my face that they could totally see themselves falling in love with me. If only I didn't have a kid."

Alex's jaw tightens.

"Are you serious?" She asks and when Sam nods as she's taking a sip of her coffee Alex narrows her eyes. "If you give me a name, I can find them." Sam's mouth curves into a smile and she laughs. "How could anyone not love Ruby?" Alex poses the question genuinely, perplexed in a way that must show on her face, because Sam's expression softens, turning fond as Alex continues. "Ruby is **awesome**. Anyone would be lucky to have her in their life, not to mention you. How could someone let something so, so ridiculous get in the way of dating **you**? I mean, you're-you're funny and you're smart, and... you're laughing at me which means I should stop talking." Alex's ramble tapers off and she looks down at the table with an embarrassed smile.

"I'm not laughing!" Sam protests, grinning widely as she leans forward with her elbows on the table. "Please. Go on."

Alex rolls her eyes.

"Okay, Miss Ego, I'm calling it." Alex reaches for her jacket and Sam pouts but motions for the waiter, who disappears to retrieve her coat. "Let's get out of here."

"Ooh," Sam coos, raising an eyebrow. "That's a line I haven't heard in a while."

"Clearly you don't have as many movie nights as Kara and I do." Alex slips into her jacket and then pulls her wallet out of the pocket.

"Don't you **dare**, Danvers." Sam slams her hand down onto the table and Alex pauses mid-motion to flick her eyes to Sam's. "You put that away right now or so help me…."

Alex closes her wallet pursing her lips to repress the threatening smile.

"Jeez, no need to go all Mom-voice on me."

"Oh, you're cute." Sam laughs. "You think that was my mom voice. Rubes is going to get a kick out of that."

* * *

The drive back is quieter somehow, even though motorcycles aren't all that conducive to talking and they hadn't exactly been carrying on a conversation on the way to the restaurant. Still, the absence of words, after spending hours talking, fills Alex's helmet and drowns out the muffled road noise. It makes her inexplicably twitchy and she's worried she might start talking to herself just to fill the silence.

It's odd, she thinks, and finds herself wondering if she'd simply enjoyed Sam's company enough to actively miss the opportunity of conversing with her for all of ten minutes while they weaved their way back to Sam's house.

Which is ridiculous and a huge waste of Alex's time, because she already knows that's the reason. She likes Sam, likes talking to her, likes her easy laughter and effortless smiles. And Alex had known that before tonight.

Everything about Sam is slightly contagious and Alex can't quite put her finger on why.

Alex pulls into Sam's driveway and parks the bike a little ways from the house so that the sound of the engine won't wake any sleeping occupants. Sam's arms slip from where they'd locked themselves around Alex's waist and Alex feels her slide off the back of the bike. She kicks out the stand and lets the bike lean, pulling off her helmet and shaking out her hair. She looks up to find Sam trying to smooth out her own hair with one hand while she offers the borrowed helmet back to Alex with the other. Alex takes it with a smile and stands to hook it back under the seat before setting her own on top.

"I should probably get Kara." Alex gestures to the house and they start towards it at a leisurely pace. "Make sure she actually leaves this time," she adds with a grin, recalling the last time Kara had babysat Ruby, and Sam tips her head back with a laugh.

"Honestly, I'm flattered she likes my pancakes enough to fake being 'too sleepy to fly'." They exchange smiles.

"Thanks for tonight," Alex says after a short silence, tucking her hands into the pocket of her jacket and glancing sidelong at Sam. "I had a really good time."

"Me too," Sam beams, her smile lighting up the dim driveway and Alex ducks her head, suddenly shy. "I'm glad you said yes."

"I'm glad you asked." Alex winces inwardly at that, realising that she's edging towards talking them around in a circle, and she rolls her eyes in such a way that Sam knows the action is aimed at Alex herself. Alex offers an apologetic upward twitch of her lips. The movement is awkward and chagrined, and Sam's eyes always crinkle whenever she smiles like she is now. Like Alex's ineptitude is somehow endearing.

They make it to the porch but Sam doesn't go for her keys straight away, but rather chooses to turn to face Alex, who blinks at Sam, a little unsure about the pause and very concerned that it's giving her more time to embarrass herself.

"Thanks for the ride, by the way." There's a peculiar look that crosses Sam's face as she speaks, one that Alex can't pin down, and so she glances over at her bike with a chuckle.

"Well, I wasn't going to make you walk-" she turns her head back towards Sam as she speaks and the rest of her sentence is crushed to dust beneath the weight of Sam's lips.

Lips that are pressed against Alex's.

Lips that belong to Sam.

Sam, who is kissing her.

Sam. Is kissing her. Kissing Alex.

Until suddenly she isn't.

Sam has pulled away and is staring at Alex, who can feel how wide her eyes have grown as she gawks back.

And Alex's brain still hasn't caught up to literally everything else on the planet by the time Sam, looking mortified now, starts apologising.

"Shit. Crap." The correction is quick, automatic, her panic apparently sending her into mom-mode. "I'm sorry. I'm **so** sorry! I thought you…." Sam takes a full step backward, rubbing at her forehead.

Alex blinks owlishly. Says nothing. Doesn't remember that she has a tongue or lips or voice box.

"I'm so stupid," Sam continues, staring up at the sky and carding her fingers through her long hair. "I told Ruby dating was a bad idea but she-"

"Dating?" Alex sputters, eyelids fluttering rapidly as she's brought back up to speed. "This…" Keeping her arm at her side, she splays out the fingers of her right hand, her palm towards the ground like she's steadying herself against an impending wobble. "This was a date?"

It is, perhaps, the most ridiculous she's ever felt asking a question and the few seconds that tick on by feel like they take a decade, then Sam is pressing the back of her hand to her mouth and holding it there, only lifting it away a little in order to speak.

Alex can only see her eyes but the shape of them, the way lines crease their corners suggests amusement rather than horror.

"You didn't know?" Sam asks and Alex's silence, as well as her continued, almost unearthly blinking, is all the conversation Sam needs. "I thought you knew!" With a pitiful groan, Sam uses both hands to cover her face and slumps down onto the steps beneath their feet. "How can I be **this** bad at something?" Her voice is muffled but Sam's exasperation is crystal clear and Alex uses the ensuing silence to go back over the events of the day with a fine, detective-grade tooth comb.

"No," she finally says, wagging a finger and pressing her lips together. "This is definitely a **me** thing." Alex frowns, wearing the crease between her brows as a badge of immense self-annoyance, and she sits down next to Sam, marvelling at how dense she can be.

"No." Sam shakes her head, dropping her hands from her face to her knees. "I should have been more clear, I was just…" she takes a deep breath and then blows it out, risking a quick glance in Alex's direction. "I was really nervous and trying not to let it show."

"You were nervous?" Alex doesn't mean to keep parroting Sam's words back at her, but she keeps finding herself in need of clarification because the things she's hearing aren't making any kind of immediate sense.

"It wasn't obvious?" Sam huffs, still looking like she wants the asphalt to crack itself open and swallow her. "Of course I was nervous. I mean, we're friends, and I didn't want to screw that up. But **Ruby** convinced me it was a good idea and what kind of mother takes dating advice from their preteen daughter?" Sam's eyes glaze over slightly as she loses herself in the abject insanity of that question. "You know, I didn't even know you were gay until she told me and then I let her excitement get to me, and I don't even know if you were interested in me like that-" Sam's voice has been growing steadily louder and her hands have joined in her effort to explain by the time Alex interrupts her.

"I am!" She blurts, rendering Sam abruptly silent. There's an awkward moment of staring then, during which Alex can feel the heat of a blush rising to her cheeks, but she tells herself that she can do this. She can totally do this. Alex Danvers, bad-ass defender of National City and occasionally Earth, has got this and she reaches out to cover Sam's hand with her own.

"I like you, Sam. Like… a lot." Well, she almost had it.

Sam's mouth curves into a wide smile and butterflies explode behind Alex's ribs, trickling down to flutter around her stomach. She swallows down her own sudden bout of nerves and pulls at Sam's hand until she can lace their fingers together.

"I just didn't think you, I mean I didn't know if-if-" Alex gestures between them and Sam laughs.

"You never asked," Sam wryly points out.

"You have Ruby. I assumed-"

"Alex, I was sixteen when I had Ruby. The **only** thing I knew for certain about myself back then was that I was going to do whatever it took to be the best mother I could possibly be." Sam squeezes Alex's hand and Alex looks down to where they're joined.

"You are," she says, the sincerity almost burning a hole through the words. "Ruby is so… you're a great mom, Sam. It's one of the things I admire most about you."

There's a moment there, fleeting but intense, where they find themselves simply staring at one another. Sam blinks at her with glassy eyes and Alex is sure she actually feels her heart swell. Then Sam makes a sound that's caught somewhere between a scoff and a sob and she bumps Alex's shoulder with her own.

"Stop. You'll make me cry." Sam tucks a few strands of long hair behind her ear and shoots Alex a rueful smile. "And that will totally kill the moment." The second her hand leaves her hair the strands slip free again, refusing to stay put, and Alex reaches out to gently brush them back until they lie where Sam wants them. Sam, who's watching Alex with big brown eyes that hold a softness that draws Alex in.

Alex lets her fingers drift, tracing the sharp line of Sam's jaw.

"Think I can get a do-over?" Alex asks, hushed, sliding her palm up until she's cupping a silky-smooth cheek, and Sam nods wordlessly against her hand.

This time, Alex is ready for the kiss.

Well, as ready as she can be. Mostly, she just isn't rendered stupid by surprise this time.

She isn't ready for how she feels like she falls apart when their lips meet. How all the pieces of herself seem to clatter to the cement steps they're sitting on as Sam sighs into the kiss when Alex deepens it.

The muted sound of shrieking pulls them apart and they both look towards the sound to find Kara and Ruby watching with their faces pressed against the window. Kara looks positively gleeful, laughing and clapping. As for Ruby, Alex doesn't think she's ever seen a smile so wide.

"Kiss her again!" Ruby yells, banging on the glass. Kara echos the demand and then they're chanting, and the mortification Alex feels at having her sister as an audience is surprisingly mild. She turns her attention back to Sam and opens her mouth to apologise.

"Well, we can't disappoint our fan club," Sam grins, then grabs the lapels of Alex's jacket and pulls her in.

Kara teases her for two weeks when Alex finally gives in and tells her the whole story. Lena laughs at both of them and calls them hopeless.

Alex takes it all in stride and tells Sam that they'll get them back. Either when her sister finally figures out that she's in love with Lena or when Lena uses her wealth to buy herself a clue.


End file.
